India to honor Kipling with museum

MUMBAI, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- India plans to honor famed writer Rudyard Kipling with a museum celebrating his life and literature despite perceptions of him as a British imperialist.

Kipling, author of the children's masterpiece "The Jungle Book," was born in India to John Lockwood Kipling, the first principal of the J.J. School of Art, and went on to become what some in India saw as the literary equivalent of a racist imperialist.

This tone kept Kipling relegated to obscurity in India, but purveyors of his legacy see his link to Bombay as vital to national identity, said The Sunday Telegraph.

"Kipling left India as a child but he never forgot Bombay. He called it the best city in the world and I am pleased to pay him this tribute," said Sangeeta, chairman of a foundation spearheading the effort to honor the late author.

A bungalow on the school grounds is to be renovated for the museum.